Concluding Thoughts About Our Recent Spanish Bible Study, Part 2

Continued from the previous post...

I was a bit nervous leading up to teaching--not extremely so, but more so than I generally experience. Over the course of the past six weeks, I've come to realize how much I'm concerned with getting it right: choosing the right vocabulary word, using the right verb tense, and so on. This is, in part, because I don't want to be wrong (can you say "pride"?), and in part because as a teacher, it's important to me be accurate. These two factors have been at the root of my hesitancy to speak the language in the past. Nonetheless, I went for it. I took my time (at times it seemed to me to be painfully slow), and trusted the Lord to lead/help me, and felt satisfied as I concluded.

Later in the week a woman from the study passed on a comment her husband made about what I shared on Sunday: "I wouldn't want to hurt Josh's feelings... but I got more out of his teaching in Spanish than from any of his teachings in English!"

I hope it doesn't seem self-congratulatory to add this comment. I mention it as an illustration of God's grace and faithfulness. It's not that I'm without ability; I can speak Spanish. (There--I said it! This is something I have opted NOT to say in the past.) It's in the form of a question that I sense God's continuing challenge (and encouragement) to me about this part of my life: "Will you accept My invitation to reposition your gaze? You will continue to be amazed by what I can do when you stop looking at yourself and instead look at Me."

Wow.

I felt and feel no condemnation or scolding in His tone or His words. Rather, I feel freshly reminded that it's by HIS grace that amazing things transpire--not by my ability or efforts, so that I don't end up taking the credit for things that I feel comfortable doing, or feel unnecessarily hesitant about stepping into things that are a stretch. He's the One who assumes the responsibility for completing what He starts; my responsibility is to partner with Him, and follow through in order to experience that completion.

God is an unparalleled multi-tasker! Once again, I stand amazed by how much God has in mind to do in and through His kids when they say YES to Him. The Bible study is over (for now =), but the work God is doing in me continues on.